For the second week in a row, Neenah native Emily Hallock earned a fair amount of screen time on "MasterChef." For the second week in a row, she came up just short of earning top dish honors.

However, her competitors still see her as a top threat to beat them for the title of America's top home cook. One even said as much.

After being shorted 10 minutes in a challenge three weeks ago by a group of competitors, Hallock was mentioned by Shanika Patterson this week as someone she'd like to knock out of the competition. And Patterson was in a position to do that by winning the day's first challenge.

Hallock described her dish during the preparation phase as deep-fried spinach and mushroom stuffed ravioli, but we didn't get to see it presented or tasted by the judges.

Patterson won with a deep-fried risotto cake, which meant she was safe from elimination but also was given another advantage.

Citrus was the ingredient to be used in the pressure test that would send one cook home. Patterson got to decide if a cook had to make a savory or sweet dish.

On the previous episode, Hallock's cupcakes, which included a lemon meringue, earned a fair amount of praise from guest judge Christina Tosi. Also, her banana cream pie earlier in the season drew rave reviews from the judges.

As Hallock prepped her dish, judge Aarón Sanchez asked if she thought Shanika was playing some strategy against her.

"I know that Shanika wants me to go home" Hallock said. "She sees me as a threat because I am one of the strongest competitors in the kitchen. But this is something that is not in my wheelhouse. I think the savory is going to test my skills today."

She easily passed the test with a chile-lime shrimp on a corn salad with avocado lime crema.

"What you've done is brought out that magic of that citrus," judge Gordon Ramsay said. "That's what we were hoping for. The big surprise is when you get so much color on the shrimp like that and they're still cooked beautifully in the center. And seasoning on point. That shows that you have finesse. It's a rustic dish, but it's got that nice bold flavor. Shanika targeted you tonight, I think it's a miss hit. Well done."

The dish wasn't quite enough to earn top honors, but she was clearly safe from elimination, moving her into the final dozen home cooks in the competition.